'Oh, that,' he replied carelessly. 'Just a question of discipline. They are a rough lot, these people of mine, and need an object lesson from time to time.'
'You mentioned `Sudden.' Was that the cowboy who came to the Double K?'
'Yes, and you are well quit of him; an arrant rascal.' Perilous as her position was, she could not keep back the retort: 'He should have suited you.'
She saw his mouth harden, and then he laughed. 'You still have your tongue. Well, a woman without brains, however pretty, is no more than a doll.'
She was silent, considering him. Though she knew the truth, the impersonation was so complete that, but for having recently seen the real Simon Pure, she might still have doubted; a warm-blooded youth, harshly treated--as he believed--by the world, might well have become such a man as this. He fell to pacing up and down, hands behind his back, an old habit of Jeff's, she remembered, when he wished to talk.
'Fine to see you here, Joan; I have much to say.'
'Then please say it and let me go home,' she replied. 'I have been absent too long already.'
'You are not going. Where I am will be `home' for you from now on,' he told her. 'You are to be my wife, or my woman, which you will, but--one or the other.'
She sprang to her feet. 'Are you mad?' she cried.
'Yes, about you,' he smiled. 'Once, I let you go; this time, I hold you until eternity.'
The note of finality in his voice left no room for doubt; the fate she had feared from the moment of her capture had become a hideous reality. Sick with horror, she sank back in her seat and strove to rally her scattered senses. She must fight this monster, and above all, never let him suspect that she knew his secret. She too had a part to play.
'I never thought you would use me so, Jeff,' she said quietly. 'If you really care for me, you will let me return to the ranch; the Colonel will be anxious.'
His astonishment was real. 'The Colonel? Why, he's dead.'
'No,' she corrected. 'There was an accident, and he was badly hurt, but he still lives, and needs all the care and attention I can give him. I beg you to let me go.'
'No, I need you, too.'
'The shock of my disappearance may prove fatal to--your father,' she pleaded.
'A convincing reason for keeping you,' he replied brutally.
He called Silver and gave him an order which Joan could not hear. In a while, the dwarf ushered in Miss Dalroy. The bandit spoke brusquely.
'Belle, this is Miss Keith; she will share your room for a time. I want you to take good care of her.'
The adventuress had expected to find a contemptuous adversary, but she found only a distraught and despairing girl. The sight aroused no compassion in her selfish soul; willing or unwilling, Joan Keith was a formidable rival.
'I understand, Jeff; she will be safe with me,' she said. 'Come, Miss Keith.'
Joan did not move, and Satan's lips tightened. Stepping to her side, he said savagely, 'Go, before I repent of my weakness. Remember, I am master here.'
With a heart heavy as lead, she obeyed, conscious that she was completely in his power. It was but a few steps, for Belle's abode was next the Chief's, a similar cave, though not so large or luxuriously fitted. But it was comfortable.
'Well, here we are,' Belle said, 'and let me tell you, Hell City has worse prisons.' She looked curiously at her guest, sitting limply, staring with arid eyes at the carpeted floor. 'You were fond of Jeff one time, weren't you? I expect he's altered.'
The girl was on her guard. 'Yes, into a beast,' she replied.
'All men have a lot of beast in them,' Belle shrugged. 'Civilization smothers and keeps it under, but out here in the wilds it comes to the surface.'
Joan changed the subject. 'Is there no way out of this awful place?'
'Three,' was the cynical reply. 'Jump through the hole behind that curtain and you'll land on the rocks eighty feet below. The other two are the gates of the town: the cowboy, Sudden, went that way last night, and the man who let him pass was beaten to death this afternoon. You can reckon your chances.'
'What had Sudden done?'
'I don't know, but if he hadn't escaped--well, judge for yourself,' Belle said, and gave an account of the gunman's arrest and subsequent torture. The listener's ashen face rather amused her; she had purposely painted the bandit leader as black as possible.
'Diabolical !'
'Oh, Jeff's all that; sometimes I think he really is--possessed. I was glad Sudden got away--he saved my life, and yet, I fear him.'
'I would say he is not the type to harm a woman.'
'It is not for myself,' the other admitted, and laughed. 'One gets these foolish fancies; probably he is fifty miles away by now.'
Joan was speculating about her companion. What dire listress had driven her, young, beautiful, to this sink of iniquity? At the risk of a rebuff, she asked the question.
'I had to choose between hanging and--this.'
Joan looked aghast. 'Hanging?' she repeated. 'But what--?'
'Oh, I just killed a cur,' Belle said brazenly. 'He deserved to die, but your man-made laws don't take that into account.' With a bitter grimace, she pointed to the bed. 'Sleep sound. Hell City has had a taste of its master's medicine to-day and will be quiet.'
The assurance was of no avail, and it was long ere rest came to the overwrought girl. Fears for her father, and forebodings as to the future kept her staring for hours into the blackness. There seemed to be no hope. Even if her whereabouts became known, what could a handful of cowboys do against Satan's well-armed horde of desperadoes, entrenched in this rock citadel.
Consternation reigned at the Double K that evening, and each rider as he came in from his day's work was met by a worried foreman and received the same order.
'Change yore hoss an' git busy. Miss Joan rode out around two an' ain't showed up. We gotta find her.'
From all he got 'Hell!' and prompt obedience. He despatched the last of them and went into his shack for his rifle. As he came out, a warning voice said: 'Keep yore han's mighty still, Steve.'
He looked round. Sudden, sitting on his black, gun drawn, was just behind him.
'I've come to talk, not fight,' the visitor went on. 'What about it?'
The foreman propped his rifle against the side of the hut. 'Come inside,' he invited.
Sudden slid down, without losing the drop, and followed him into the shack. 'Why are yu sendin' the boys out?' he asked.
Lagley told him. 'She's a good rider, but a hoss can find a hole an' break a leg. What's yore guess?'
'That she's in Hell City.'
The foreman looked relieved. 'If that's so, she'll be all right; Jeff would never let her come to harm.'
'That's comfortin',' the puncher said sarcastically, and then, 'Steve, I'm goin' to put some straight questions an' I want the same sort o' answers. Just why are yu doublecrossin' yore boss?'
The veins on Lagley's forehead swelled up, he shut his jaw, and for a moment it seemed there might be trouble. Then he said angrily, 'It's none o' yore damned business.'
goin' to be ,' Sudden replied sternly, and reading the desperate thought, 'Don't gamble, Steve; yu'll be outa luck.'
Lagley hesitated; this man was his master with a gun, and there was no help within miles. He made his decision.
'Because o' the way he served young Jeff,' he burst out. 'I'm admittin' the boy was skittish--what colt that's worth anythin' ain't?--but he never give him a chance. Whipped him allatime with that sharp tongue o' his, like he does all of us, an' fair drove him to rebel. I wanta see him an' Miss Joan runnin' this ranch, that's what. So now yu know.'
Sudden nodded. 'An' if another fella was tryin' to grab it vu wouldn't help?' he queried.
'Anybody but a Keith at the Double K?' Lagley snorted. 'I'd help him into the next world with a slug in his
